Providence Post Game Thread

[Mr. French]

So disingenuous when I’m not pulling this stuff out of nowhere. I’m referencing a true basketball genius in Jim Calhoun. But you’d rather avoid that and attack me instead.

Nothing about what I said is disingenuous, not sure where you pulled that from.

Also I’m not sure where Jim Calhoun said all the things you said.

I do know that you’ve referenced your own basketball knowledge and others lack of knowledge to make a point, so it’s clear you view yourself as a basketball genius.

Am I to take this as HW611 is actually Jim Calhoun?

 

[Stew Crew]

There looked to be an almost empty stusent section. I think it was the one closest to the Uconn bench.

There were a couple of sections, one on each end, reserved for student athletes that attained a 3.0 GPA for the semester. Some of the team seemed to get there late. Then, all the student athletes left their seats mid-first half to get down to court level for half time recognition.

 

[Chonky]

There looked to be an almost empty stusent section. I think it was the one closest to the Uconn bench.

The lower levels around the UConn bench aren’t students. The upper levels are. There was one student upper section on either side that was empty. At halftime they had a ceremony for all UConn student athletes with GPA greater than 3.0. After the half some of the athletes sat there. Mostly though they just wandered around.

 

[Inyatkin]

Honestly guy your Calhoun references are some of the strangest things you’re saying. Are you relating this Calhoun stuff from memory or is this something you read about because you were too young to actually see it because nothing you say about Calhoun ever tends to bear any resemblance to what I watched for a couple decades.

Jim Calhoun, famous for his long leash with struggling players

 

[uconngb]

I have to credit Hurley for sticking with Smith. I gave up on him a while ago but Hurley didn't. We don't need Smith to go 4-4 from 3 but we do need him to play with confidence. Now if he could just get confident finishing at the rim and from the stripe. I didn't see the last 4 minutes. Smith was 0-1 from the line. Did he miss a front end late?

Hurley made a great point in the post-game presser. The expectations are so high. Media, fans, everyone. We all got used to the blowouts from the ‘23 and ‘24 teams. Even some of the great JC-coached teams had flaws. This team has a lot of warts. But they are 20-1. They do look tired and a step slower than they looked in the non-con part of the schedule. But they also appear to be one of the more composed UConn teams I have ever watched. I attribute that to guys like Silas, AK and Solo. Zero panic. Lots of maturity. February is a few days away. They need to start cleaning things up if a serious March run is in the cards.

While I agree they do seem to have that level of maturity, which I attribute to AK and Demary, they also have an appalling lack of BBIQ. We have too many players that get significant minutes that are just plain bad when it comes to intangibles and making the right play (Reed, Solo, Stewart, Ross, Smith). I'm talking making the same mistakes over and over which should not be happening this late in the year (Tarris with his TOs every time he dribble more than once or twice, Solo with his live ball TOs and awful passes, Ross going for every up fake he sees, Smith with the over dribbling in the offensive sets, etc). These things should have been drilled out of them by now and it's concerning that they haven't. We are winning games lately strictly based on having more talent than the other team. The longer the season goes, the less that will be the case. This stuff needs to be cleaned up.

 

[REB1094]

One thing that I could only shake my head and laugh at last night was Daniels, an end of game garbage minutes guy comes in because Floyd got shaken up and absolutely drains the two three-point looks that he gets… completely standard whenever teams play us!

Played 29 total minutes all year before yesterday. Scored 6 total points. 1-3 FG on the season (all three point shots)

16 minutes yesterday, nails 2 threes and hits a FT for 7 points

But I’m not upset. Don’t know anything about the kid but he plays the right way. 100% heart and effort. Picking up half court/full court every possession, hits his shots when his team needed. Happy that he had that moment (I’d be less happy if we lost of course)

Mali also went 4-4 from three. He made a total of 1 three since November. So we can laugh off the PC guy’s performance, they’re probably laughing off Malachi’s

 

[Gurleyman]

While we won at home by 6 here is what happened elsewhere:

1. 5 Nebraska lost at 3. Michigan by 3
2. 7 Michigan St won at Rutgers by 9 in OT
3. 12 Purdue lost by 5 at Indiana
4. 15 Arkansas won by 4 at Oklahoma
5. 17 Virginia won by 3 at Notre Dame in 2OT
6. 21 Saint Louis won at home by 3 vs George Washington
7. 24 Miami OH won at home by 2 vs UMass

While we bemoan a 6 pt win at home many other boards are grumbling over losses or closer calls.

We didn't have Mullins on top of all that so a win is a win here folks!

This is all true - but the frustration I think comes from a combination of having high expectations and not seeing us playing at a championship level, even temporarily. Some of us fretted over the BYU game and losing the lead - but I was actually kinda happy with that game in the big picture. You can work on getting better at closing games, but building a 20-point lead against a team that good is hard, and showed how good we could be.

The big lead against Seton Hall was there recently where we closed the half with a nice spurt. And maybe I should give us more credit for that - but Hall is a pretty pedestrian team talent wise and will go through lulls. Felt more like them than us.

This group is letting teams take the fight to us in our gym and not taking advantage of a gimme road game like Gtown. And in none of those games have I really felt like “there’s that extra gear - that hammer we need to put this away”. Some brief moments (Silas back to back threes) are fleeting and we don’t build on them.

The 1998-99 team had this annoying habit of letting teams hang around (they were 10-0 when trailing at the half) but they almost always had a hammer late in games. Even the one full strength loss against Miami we were down 10 and came all the way back - they could not score on us - and won the game when an air ball late in the shot clock turned into an accidental pass (Johnny Helmsley to Tim James). The trouble with that strategy is it can bite you. As Quentin Hall of Gonzaga was one guy who didn’t want to be a nail and almost ended things (like Clayton last year).

We don’t have to be our best right now all the time - just want to see signs that our best is in there somewhere waiting to come out.

 

[RuffRuff]

We beat #7, #13, #18, #21, and #25. Our only loss was a 4 point loss to #1 when we were missing Reed and Mullins.

Keep holding onto that, but most were home games. DP didn't play. Wagler was barely a thing then. The first month of the season is not going to dictate how we play in March. We also had lot's of continuity in a complicated offense when teams were trying to figure out new rosters.

I'd say what we are looking at now is much more indicative of what is to come. It's simply whether Hurley has any master plan that he plans to unfold.

 

[superjohn]

Tarris with his TOs every time he dribble more than once or twice

Tarris had one turnover last night, he's averaging two turnovers per game for the season.

 

[superjohn]

Keep holding onto that, but most were home games. DP didn't play. Wagler was barely a thing then. The first month of the season is not going to dictate how we play in March. We also had lot's of continuity in a complicated offense when teams were trying to figure out new rosters.

I'd say what we are looking at now is much more indicative of what is to come. It's simply whether Hurley has any master plan that he plans to unfold.

"UConn is no threat in the big dance" -RuffRuff

 

[Pmac923]

Keep holding onto that, but most were home games. DP didn't play. Wagler was barely a thing then. The first month of the season is not going to dictate how we play in March. We also had lot's of continuity in a complicated offense when teams were trying to figure out new rosters.

I'd say what we are looking at now is much more indicative of what is to come. It's simply whether Hurley has any master plan that he plans to unfold.

Getting healthy and unleashing Braylon is the next step. Getting Braylon to 15-18 ppg will really help others out.

 

[DW1361]

I want to watch the game again to focus on Malachi Smith. It was my feeling that the team clicked best when he and Silas were on the court together. The ball seemed to move better and they were getting better shots. I also thought his defense was good. Glad to see Smith take advantage of the added playing time to show Hurley he is ready to contribute more.

 

[RuffRuff]

We have to ho

Getting healthy and unleashing Braylon is the next step. Getting Braylon to 15-18 ppg will really help others out.

We have to hope this is a big part of it. Him and Silas playing some two man, maybe triangulating Tarris into the mix. We need to find an offensive core. AK is intermittent and his open looks should be a product of the core.

While we won at home by 6 here is what happened elsewhere:

1. 5 Nebraska lost at 3. Michigan by 3
2. 7 Michigan St won at Rutgers by 9 in OT
3. 12 Purdue lost by 5 at Indiana
4. 15 Arkansas won by 4 at Oklahoma
5. 17 Virginia won by 3 at Notre Dame in 2OT
6. 21 Saint Louis won at home by 3 vs George Washington
7. 24 Miami OH won at home by 2 vs UMass

While we bemoan a 6 pt win at home many other boards are grumbling over losses or closer calls.

We didn't have Mullins on top of all that so a win is a win here folks!

Totally get this, but our game was at home going basket for basket with an undermanned PC, after a series of close calls. It's the consistent eye test that becomes the concern.

 

[MuchoDogYears]

Not st the

((AK) He’s earned the equity.

Not at the expense of the team winning a game.

 

[AllHusky]

With the exception of one guy, I'd say this has been the most level headed, reasonable and accurate post game conversation I've ever seen. Really enjoyable, even though the mood is pretty dour. Not much to say that hasn't been said.
1. Reibe and Smiths time on the floor felt not just positive, but exciting and promising. Will be interested to see if the staff can find a way to capitalize and amplify that.

2. Give Stewarts minutes to Ross. Bigger potential upside if he surpasses pre-injury levels of play. Stew has had his chances.

3. Mullins out, Ball is clearly hurt(hurt=can play but diminished capacity), and according to some, Reed is still subpar physically.

Mullins will return when Docs say, hope he has no lingering effects. Out of staffs control

Reed=?? Agree that he is not quite what you'd hope and expect him to be physically, but question how much of that is who Reed really is versus due to some lingering physical issue. I'd prefer to think his February into March curve will mirror last years emergence. More Reibe useage may hasten that.

Ball-Most concerning. Ball at his best would be incredible to have. That wrist won't get better playing 2 games a week and practicing. Do what it takes to get him 100% and damn the cosequences!

 

[Mr. French]

Not st the

Not at the expense of the team winning a game.

Totally, AK has a part of WAY too many losses, especially this year.

 

[BigErnMcCracken]

Not st the

Not at the expense of the team winning a game.

Did I miss something?

The "Karaban hasn't earned it" take is one that I'd love to get Hurley's reaction to. Karaban is pretty obviously the team's security blanket.

 

[boog204]

Fwiw. Charlie got 25 minutes a game his sophomore year.

Karaban hasn’t averaged under 30 since his sophomore year and averaged 28 as a freshman lol.

Karaban is not this super indispensable player man.

Good lord, man...

1. Karaban is a four-year starter and will go down as one of our most accomplished players in the program's history.
2. He has been lauded by our coach as being indispensable to the creation of the culture and the offensive emergence of the team, saying, "The whole program changed when he got here."
3. He has EARNED unending trust from our coach because he WAS an indispensable member of two national championship teams. It doesn't matter if he was the 3rd, 4th, or 5th option. He was there, he was the ultimate connector, and he hit a gazillion big shots. Is he infallible? Of course not. But he has more than earned a longer leash than others.
4. You are arguing that Stew does not get a leash... Stew has started over 20 games in his three years here, getting over 25mpg in those starts. He has had many opportunities to seize those minutes and be the player many here think he can be. He's averaged 7 and 3 in those starts, shooting 33% from 3. His defense is better, but he is still inconsistent. Which is basically what he has always given you. You wanted more of a leash last night? Stew started. Took two terrible shots, got beaten on D repeatedly, and committed two hideous turnovers in the first half.
5. You are arguing that Ross needs more minutes. Listen, I was on your side last year with Ross being better than given credit for. I think he actually has a lot of talent and is our best athlete, and I still think is more likely than Ross becomes a 12-15 scorer next year vs. Stew. You keep on saying "only one turnover." You're right. He was also bad on D (save that one held ball) and was passive in some moments. Basically, he was what he's been for three years. He did make two nice passes. I'm not against him getting more minutes. But this diatribe about how Stew and Ross are deprived and held back is asinine. They have earned NO trust since being here. They have been given opportunities, and they are what they've always been... incredibly inconsistent with brief moments here and there. The simple fact is that even with Solo struggling, we were still better off with him and Mal on the court vs. Stew and Ross. They did nothing to show they were going to be positive contributors. AK does still make some bonehead drives, etc. He also contributed boards, assists, and, as always, made a huge shot when it mattered the most.

 

[navery12]

Not st the

Not at the expense of the team winning a game.

This is a bizarre comment to make, after a win, about a team that is 20-1

 

[aceboon]

Keep holding onto that, but most were home games. DP didn't play. Wagler was barely a thing then. The first month of the season is not going to dictate how we play in March. We also had lot's of continuity in a complicated offense when teams were trying to figure out new rosters.

I'd say what we are looking at now is much more indicative of what is to come. It's simply whether Hurley has any master plan that he plans to unfold.

Wagler earned the starting job in the preseason and was averaging 15ppg heading into the UConn matchup. You can argue that he wasn't playing on ball as much as he is now(Boswell was the primary lead guard at that point), but he was absolutely a thing.

 

[MuchoDogYears]

It really was tough to watch and it forced Hurley to play Solo who was in excruciating pain and had to gut it out.

Maybe. Or sit Solo until he heals and start Smith at SG for now?

 

[RuffRuff]

Wagler earned the starting job in the preseason and was averaging 15ppg heading into the UConn matchup. You can argue that he wasn't playing on ball as much as he is now(Boswell was the primary lead guard at that point), but he was absolutely a thing.

Granted we didn't have Mullins, and we've yet to really see him play at a peak level consistently as of yet, but Wagler and Burries were not nearly what they are right now back in the first month.

Pretty crazy when you see how many high draft picks we saw early in between AJD, Burries/Peat, Wagler, Haugh and what would have been DP.

 

[superjohn]

Wagler earned the starting job in the preseason and was averaging 15ppg heading into the UConn matchup. You can argue that he wasn't playing on ball as much as he is now(Boswell was the primary lead guard at that point), but he was absolutely a thing.

Can't let facts get in the way when you're pushing a narrative. And did you hear Arizona had to fly across the country during the week to play at UConn? Who cares that UConn was missing Reed and Mullins? Arizona had to board a plane on a Tuesday.

 

[Deepster]

On a separate note, this so-called "rivalry" with PC has become a little lopsided with us winning the last 8 matchups. The last loss was at the AMP on 1/4/23. I think that's reflected in the decreased amount of whiny little PC rats that scurry in and out of this place now.

 

[Edward Sargent]

We are no

While I agree they do seem to have that level of maturity, which I attribute to AK and Demary, they also have an appalling lack of BBIQ. We have too many players that get significant minutes that are just plain bad when it comes to intangibles and making the right play (Reed, Solo, Stewart, Ross, Smith). I'm talking making the same mistakes over and over which should not be happening this late in the year (Tarris with his TOs every time he dribble more than once or twice, Solo with his live ball TOs and awful passes, Ross going for every up fake he sees, Smith with the over dribbling in the offensive sets, etc). These things should have been drilled out of them by now and it's concerning that they haven't. We are winning games lately strictly based on having more talent than the other team. The longer the season goes, the less that will be the case. This stuff needs to be cleaned up.

We are not just winning on talent alone. We also win because our system, coaching, training, depth, and intelligence.

 

[UConnJim]

I think one of the problems facing the offense is the lack of good passers. During the 2023/2024 season, UConn had a lot of guys who were good passers and had good assist to turnover ratios. This year, UConn does not have that. Ball has an assist to TO ratio of ~1 which is not good enough in the Hurley offense for someone who is a ball handling guard. Mullins also has an assist to TO ratio of ~1 same as Ross and Reed. Stewart is slightly better, but the ball needs to be in the hands of Demery, Smith, or Karaban for the offense to run smoothly. Does that mean the offense needs to be tweaked?

2023/2024 assist to TO ratios:
Spencer 3.6, Newton 2.5, Diarra 2.2, Karaban/Clingan/Castle 1.9, Stewart 1.5, Ball 0.8, Johnson 0.6

2025/2026 assist to TO ratios:
Smith 3.4, Demery 3.2, Karaban 2.6, Stewart 1.4, Ball 1.1, Reed/Mullins 1.0, Ross 0.8, Reibe 0.6

In 2023/2024, UConn had 7 players with assist to TO ratios >1.5. This year, there are 3.

 

[Gurleyman]

Keep holding onto that, but most were home games. DP didn't play. Wagler was barely a thing then. The first month of the season is not going to dictate how we play in March. We also had lot's of continuity in a complicated offense when teams were trying to figure out new rosters.

I'd say what we are looking at now is much more indicative of what is to come. It's simply whether Hurley has any master plan that he plans to unfold.

As we all know, we played way better out of conference in 2011, 2014 and 2023 than we did in conference. Not saying it will happen again - but sometimes when we looked the part early, we looked it again late when we played teams unfamiliar with us.

There is a blueprint forward that’s still sort of mythical at this point that would include Demary being the alpha and just saying “this is my team” when things get hairy, Mullins and Solo both being weapons/threats at the same time (they won’t always both shoot well - but both being guys defenses have to be on high alert for would open up the offense), Reed finishing and giving us a little bit of inside out passing, and AK doing heady AK things playing off others.

Will that all work? Time will tell. Being the alpha or making shots at Creighton is one thing but doing it with your season on the line is another. Worst part about more Mullins missed time is that I really wanted to see more of his passing gene come out as he got more familiar with our sets. We need that secondary creating when our PG is hounded by a good defender. AK can sometimes do it - but he can’t always get in position to make the passes.

But when we played Illinois, Smith saw more time than Demary, Reed played 15 minutes and had 2 points and Mullins was making his debut with token bench minutes. Our ceiling should be higher than those early games too. But would be nice to get a tease of what that might look like. The more games go by without those pieces coming together, the harder it is to believe in it.

 

[MuchoDogYears]

This is a bizarre comment to make, after a win, about a team that is 20-1

Is it?

How does AK taking a huge percentage of shots, while making a small percentage of them, help the team win?

This is not an NBA season where 3,4,5 games don’t matter while you work out the kinks in your shooting stroke. Every game matters. And if during a game, if a player isn’t hitting shots, they shouldn’t take a high volume of them. Take your normal number of shots but not a abnormally high volume of them.

That being said, it’s understandable in this particular game with Mullins being out and Solo being injured, and Ross and Stewart not contributing, that AK felt that he needed to carry the team.

When Mullins is back, AK should not continue forcing up a high volume of shots when he’s not hitting. Same with Solo. Dial it back when you’re not making shots.

 

[NJHusky]

Has a Uconn team every missed so many bunnies? Wasnt there a stretch where Tyrese was shooting better from 3 than from layup?

Yeah, I don't think that's it at all. We're hurt and guys can't make anything lately. It's tough to win any games convincingly when you can't put the ball in the basket. So many missed layups, missed wide open jumpers, and missed ft's game after game now.

 

[navery12]

Is it?

How does AK taking a huge percentage of shots, while making a small percentage of them, help the team win?

This is not an NBA season where 3,4,5 games don’t matter while you work out the kinks in your shooting stroke. Every game matters. And if during a game, if a player isn’t hitting shots, they shouldn’t take a high volume of them. Take your normal number of shots but not a abnormally high volume of them.

That being said, it’s understandable in this particular game with Mullins being out and Solo being injured, and Ross and Stewart not contributing, that AK felt that he needed to carry the team.

When Mullins is back, AK should not continue forcing up a high volume of shots when he’s not hitting. Same with Solo. Dial it back when you’re not making shots.

Yes, it is. We have won 83% of our games since Alex Karaban started playing for UConn, and he's been getting close to 30 minutes the entire time. Just listen to our 2 time National Championship coach talk about him.

And here's the thing, Alex Karaban has an 18.4% usage rate which is the lowest of all 5 starters. He's not forcing up shots, he's taking the least percentage wise of all 5 starters